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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24541450">Time To See What's Become Of Me</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ellienerd14/pseuds/Ellienerd14'>Ellienerd14</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Life Is Strange (Video Game), Life Is Strange 2 (Video Game), The Umbrella Academy (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Crossover, F/M, Introspection, Karen is one of the 43 women, You don't need to know TUA to enjoy, implied postpartum depression</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 11:07:40</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,193</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24541450</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ellienerd14/pseuds/Ellienerd14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The second baby is an even bigger surprise. </p><p>Because Karen hadn’t been pregnant the day before. </p><p>-</p><p>Or, Karen is one of the 43 unlucky women who go into labour in the prologue of the Umbrella Academy</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Esteban Diaz/Karen Reynolds</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Time To See What's Become Of Me</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Head_Full_Of_Things__Shir/gifts">Head_Full_Of_Things__Shir</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This was inspired by @head-full-of-things on Tumblr posting about how Diego is like Sean, which sparked a need for a TUA crossover.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Her first pregnancy had been unexpected but welcome. Esteban had always wanted children, so when she greeted her husband with a tearful face and a positive test, he had been so happy he cried for a different reason. (“A happy surprise,” he had whispered.)</p><p>Everyone had been happy - wrapped up in planning and parenting books and debating baby names - except for her. But Karen had pushed through it, held on for her unborn son, drawing strength from the fuzzy scan stuck on the fridge. </p><p>She let Esteban name him. He picked Sean. Unsurprisingly, he favoured his Father.</p><p>The second baby was an even bigger surprise. </p><p>Because Karen hadn’t been pregnant the day before. </p><p>Reporters had swarmed the outside of the hospital - the story of a miracle baby had attracted them - as she looked down at her second baby, feeling even more disconnected from him than she had with Sean six years earlier. (“I can't do that again,” she had told Esteban, sweat dripping down her face. Like a good husband, he hadn’t asked her to.) </p><p>“Do you have a name for him?” A nurse asked. She smiled down at the baby, seemingly undisturbed by the supernatural events that had led to him being there. </p><p>“No,” she replied, “my husband will choose. He’s good with names.” </p><p>Esteban squeezed her hand when he arrived, an hour later, Sean trialing behind him with a pout.</p><p>“Are you okay sweetheart?” he asked, but he only had eyes for the baby. </p><p>Karen wanted to yell that the whole thing was bullshit, but Sean was in the room too and she was trying to stop swearing in front of him. He seemed to share the notion, squinting at the baby suspiciously. Instead she shook her head. </p><p>Esteban reached for him. “Can I?” </p><p>Karen handed him over eagerly. </p><p>“Mom?” Sean said, in his soft voice that has never been more comforting. He crept over to her bedside and took her hand. Sean’s hands were small and sticky and flicked with paint but she held onto him anyway. “This isn’t how babies work.” </p><p>“Tell me about it,” she grumbled. </p><p>“You’re supposed to get big first,” he insisted, gesturing with his own stomach, “and you said no little brother or sister was coming.” </p><p>“I’m just as surprised as you,” Karen told him - she had been picking up shopping and ended up with a son instead. They still needed more damn bread.</p><p>“Do I have to share my room?” Sean asked, “I just started building the new LEGO set Grandma sent me.” </p><p>Karen couldn’t help but laugh - of all the trouble this baby will bring to their lives, Sean had picked a childish one. </p><p>“We’ll work it out,” Esteban said. “Do you want to say hello?” </p><p>Seam peered at the wrinkled, red face of his new, unexpected brother and he smiled. He placed his finger in the tiny palm of the baby as he curled his fingers around it. Karen sighed as she lost her only ally. </p><p>“Daddy,” Sean asked, “do babies like LEGO?” </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>They took the baby home a week later. He had a name now, Daniel, and he had charmed everyone who had met him. Even Karen’s parents fawned over him. </p><p>“A miracle,” her mother insisted, “you were blessed Karen.” </p><p>It felt like the opposite but she couldn’t say that. Karen couldn't say anything wrong about this miracle child - not about the emptiness he’d left her with, not about the way she felt shackled down, not about how he felt so alien to her. </p><p>The crib was Sean’s old one, even though Esteban had been promising to sell it for years. Their guest room was slowly transformed into a nursery and the long sleepless nights began again. </p><p>“We got lucky,” Esteban told her, kissing her forehead as he climbed into bed besides her. Through the monitor Daniel snored quietly; Esteban had always been better at the parenting thing. </p><p>“How?” </p><p>“Most of the other women-” (forty others stuck with supernatural newborns, Karen should begin a support group) “well, they weren’t experienced with children. I couldn’t imagine having to give up Daniel.” </p><p>Karen turned away from him guiltily, afraid her face will give her away. </p><p>Truthfully, she had been thinking of nothing else.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Karen didn’t know how he got her number but once he did, Reginald Hagreeves didn’t stop calling.</p><p>When she finally picked up, his offer gave her a lot to think about. </p><p>“I am hoping to obtain and study some of the children spontaneously born on the first of October. I understand you were one of those women.” </p><p>“I was.” Karen nudged the door shut. She didn’t want Sean to overhear - his loyalties had always been towards his Father. </p><p>“I believe those children will be extraordinary, having abilities beyond that of a normal child. I have the best resources to help raise such special children.” </p><p>“You want Daniel?” Karen asked. She bit her lip - the offer was uncomfortably appealing. </p><p>Daniel wasn’t hers anyway - he didn’t feel like hers. He was so different to her quiet, reserved Sean. </p><p>“You will be well compensated,” he promised, “price is really not an issue.” </p><p><em> It isn’t about money, </em> Karen almost said. “It’s an unusual offer,” she had answered instead. </p><p>“I already have acquired seven such children,” Hargreeves continued, “he would have a family. Siblings.” </p><p>Karen thought of how doting Sean was and it snapped her out of the dreamlike haze she had drifted in, imagining a world free of Daniel and the great emptiness he had brought to her. </p><p>“I’ll think about it,” she promised, although not for the reason Hargreaves wanted. </p><p>She locked herself in the bathroom and cried. Sean knocked on the door and offered her water. She can hear him hushing Daniel in the living room. He sang his little brother to sleep and she hit her head against the door. </p><p>It wasn’t about money, it was about love, really. It was about the wrong kind of ache in her chest as Sean sang to Daniel. It was about <em> her, </em> being too broken, too disconnected to be a real mother.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>She didn’t leave at night, like a coward, even if it was tempting. Karen did it the hard way, the right way, face to face. She explained as much as she could to Esteban, her hand clasped in his. </p><p>“I love you and it’s easy,” she explained, “but I love them and it’s so hard.” </p><p>Esteban helped her to pack. He made her write Sean a goodbye card and kiss him goodnight. He did not cry and that was somehow worse. </p><p>“We’re not going anywhere,” he promised her, “if you want to come back. Keep your key.” </p><p>Karen left and it was hard. But it was what’s right.</p><p>Perhaps it was the kindest thing for Daniel and Sean. They could keep their family. Maybe they would hate her for it, one day, but they had their Father. They had each other. </p><p>She sat at a cafe, a notepad in her hands and drafted a poem about the day she had a baby without expecting one.</p><p>It was only when she finished she remembered that Esteban always picked out a title for her. </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I might add more to this story later on, maybe Sean and Daniel watching the Umbrella Academy on the news or more on Daniel's power. Let me know what you think!</p><p>Let me know what you thought. As usual, kudos and comments encouraged!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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